


Taking In Strays

by deathwailart



Series: Eimhir Lavellan [5]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Banter, Dogs, F/M, Fluff, Schmoop, Spoilers, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 04:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2799725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathwailart/pseuds/deathwailart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eimhir finds a lost little runt of a pup out on the Storm Coast and Blackwall's just the man who'd appreciate a lost little stray that the whole team ends up adoring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking In Strays

The Storm Coast is living up to its name when they return to it to deal with Red Templars, the rain lashing and the wind shrieking. It's been a long few days and Eimhir is glad that tomorrow they'll be back at Skyhold because she's fed up of being cold and sore, just wanting a hot bath and some sleep and to not have to move. She's about to drag herself off and into a tent when she pauses, listening intently because a noise catches her attention over the weather. She can hear the faint whimpering from just south of the camp and despite how tired she is, it unsettles her enough that she heads off to investigate it along with Solas who lights the end of his staff enough for them to see without stumbling, scrambling over rocks to find the source of the noise. It's a sad sound, the cry of an animal in pain and as a hunter she was always taught to make sure any animal suffered little and to give them a clean and swift death so even out here on the Storm Coast she'll do just that.  
  
"Take care," Solas warns her and she nods, her little knife in hand already. They're close, just a short slide down the rocks into a little sheltered area with an overhang that's dry and mostly protected from the wind, scraped out like a nest. She can't see anything at first but the sound is louder and she drops into a crouch, patting around until her fingers touch soft fur.  
  
"Oh no," she moans, tucking the knife away to lift a tiny scrap of a beast that whimpers and shivers. "It's a pup."  
  
"Likely a Hessarian hound that got loose or perhaps there are some wild mabari around. This must've been the runt of the litter."  
  
It whimpers again, shivering as she quickly unbuttons her coat and without further ado tucks the pup inside, nestled close to her skin. "We're taking him or her back with us," she announces and Solas smiles and leads them back to camp where Cassandra is sharpening her sword and Varric is writing by the light of the fire; Cassandra though has positioned her shield in such a way as to help give him more light and Eimhir smiles.  
  
"What is that?" Cassandra asks as Eimhir plucks the pup from her coat. "Is that a dog?"  
  
"We found the runt of a litter left behind," Solas explains as he joins Varric, propping his staff up. "Eimhir did not wish to leave him or her."  
  
"Cassandra can you grab that pouch on my pack and can someone get me some water at least?" Eimhir asks as she takes a seat and starts checking the pup over, Varric carefully tucking his papers away to come join her.  
  
"Little thing," he murmurs, one blunt finger carefully stroking the little creature's head. "You think-"  
  
"We're heading back to Skyhold in the morning, if I can get him or her through tonight..."  
  
Cassandra kneels next to her, the pouch in one hand as she accepts bits and pieces from the scouts as they bring them. "Do you know how to do this?"  
  
"We don't have many dogs in our clan," Eimhir admits as she checks for any wounds, wincing at how many bones she can feel but the pup seems in good health apart from that, eyes and ears open, tiny little teeth when she inspects the mouth, "but I know how to do this. I just need to get them- _her_ ," she amends, "through tonight."  
  
"Inquisitor, someone actually has milk!" One of the scouts says with a grin and Eimhir could hug them, moving so she's next to fire as she mixes herbs into the milk and warms it by the fire, soaking a scrap of linen in it. The pup sucks it greedily and she murmurs a little prayer and thanks to Sylaise, taking a moment to trace the lines of her Vallaslin as she does so.  
  
"Da'asha," she murmurs, cupping the pup in her hand and wondering if the milk will be enough for now, scared that too much food will only worsen things.  
  
"Naming her already?" Varric asks. "I thought it was only Fereldens that got attached to dogs that fast."  
  
"It means little girl," Solas explains for her.  
  
"Hawke had a mabari," Varric explains quietly. "Happiest dog I ever met, decent Diamondback player but he gave himself away all the time, it was embarrassing. Good dog though, I didn't really get the appeal until I spent all that time with him. She told me a story Merrill told of a Keeper and his hound."  
  
Eimhir smiles and even though he offers a token protest, she lets Varric hold the pup so she can mix up more herbs, sprinkling them and thanking Sylaise again before she tells the story as she knows it, Cassandra listening with a smile even if she expects an interruption or correction from Solas. She doesn't sleep much that night because she's too worried and Roan keeps snorting when she nestles next to him but the pup squirms and her little nails scratch her bare skin where she's tucked to Eimhir's chest. She travels well on the trip back to Skyhold and that she's survived this long, well, Eimhir's going to take it as a sign and she's actually smiling by the time they're through the gates and dismounting, Eimhir hopping down lightly as she goes to give Varric a hand.  
  
"I'll go find the kid, he can get what you need for the little girl," Varric offers and she thanks him profusely as she makes her way down to the barn.  
  
"It would seem you found a fighter," Solas murmurs, he and Cassandra joining her to lead the mounts down to the horse master and she can see Blackwall looking up from his work, a fond smile on his face at the sight of them. "I have seen that story you told her."  
  
"I must confess, I didn't know Dalish had stories like that," Cassandra admits and Solas smirks.  
  
"My Keeper told me it before I left and pinched my ear," she admits and they all laugh before departing, Dennett and his helpers taking charge of the horses and a snorting Roan as Eimhir slips into the barn.  
  
"What've you got there?" Blackwall asks when he spies the swaddled pup in her coat and she smiles, sure that it won't be long before Cole appears.  
  
"I found a pup left on her own out on the coast last night, I couldn't just leave her." She hands the little girl over and marvels at just how gentle he is, big hands dwarfing the thing as she sets down her pack and follows him to the fire.  
  
"How d'you manage to get her through the night?"  
  
"I know how to help halla and I've nursed a few other things through. I'm not an alchemist but I know how to heal, this kind of healing at least. She made it through the night so that's a good sign and I know you like dogs, I thought maybe if you wanted..." She trails off because they're doing a shite job of the whole taking it slow and figuring out where they're going lately, ever since she spent all that time down here when one of her harts was pregnant thanks to Roan and here she is with a dog.  
  
"I'd like that," he says and there's something about how his features soften that it almost hurts and she sets one of her hands over his, squeezing lightly.  
  
"Varric said you needed me?" Cole's sudden appearance startles her but she recovers, waving him in. "I brought milk and some meat, it's easier raw, not so much chewing. She's safe now, warm, no more howling."  
  
In the end it's her, Cole and Blackwall before the fire, smiling and laughing as the pup demolishes the food presented to her before she explores, tottering around and barking a squeaky little bark. She chews Eimhir's fingers, licks Cole's nose and falls asleep on Blackwall's lap. After Cole leaves, Eimhir ducks into the kitchen herself, grabbing a tray and the staff are used to her appearance after she stayed with her hart and the new fawn so they wave her off as she loads up a tray and carefully heads back down to the barn. She wants to stay because she's gotten used to it even if she prefers the warmth of her room but being here means she can talk to Blackwall late into the night when words seem to come more easily. If they were in her quarters he would leave and somehow it's harder for her that way when she just wants to take him by the hand and make him stay. He needs time and so does she and soon, she thinks, soon.  
  
"Did you ever have dogs?" He asks once they've finished eating and the still unnamed pup has eaten again and run around, almost unrecognisable now that her little belly is bulging with plenty to fill it.  
  
"One or two," Eimhir replies. "We had a fox once too that lost her leg in a trap humans laid out, she was in such a sad state when we found her, she'd tried to free herself by pulling and gnawing at her leg but she was still stuck." The memory makes her shudder so she reaches out to pet the pup's soft fur, staring into the fire. "I won't ever forget how she sounded, that sort of cry cuts right through. She was half-dead when we found her, hadn't eaten, she'd lost blood and there was an infection setting in – at first I honestly thought it'd be kinder to put her out of her misery but then she looked at me and there was something in her eyes, the other hunter I was with – Conrí – he was better with traps. She nipped my hand when I let her sniff it but I would've done the same but Conrí got the trap open while I told her I was sorry and that I wanted to help. I don't know how she survived but she did and stayed around camp, she'd come scrounge after a hunt. Followed us when we moved on. When she died at last I buried her and planted flowers over the grave." She hasn't thought about that fox in years now but she smiles and Blackwall smiles back  
  
"Don't know how folk can be cruel to an animal. You hunt it and you kill it but you shouldn't draw it out or hurt it because you can or, Maker forbid, enjoy it. Orlesians have hunts for nobles where it's all planned, some cultured wild area because you can't risk your life doing it properly apparently, everything has to be for show. Some of them are cruel."  
  
"Fuck Orlais," she mutters and he laughs bitterly in agreement, lifting an arm for her to tuck herself against his side. "So now we have a dog and there's my strange wild hart-royal sixteen fawn clattering around."  
  
"That thing acts like it's got twice as many legs as it actually has, it got out when you were gone and half of Skyhold tried to catch it."  
  
"There are days when I could throttle Roan."  
  
"The amount of stolen apples you feed him? Not likely."  
  
"Not a word, the kitchen doesn't know that's me yet. That's the one good thing – I am absolutely above suspicion regarding petty food theft."  
  
"It's a wonder we haven't all starved between you, Cole and Sera."  
  
She laughs and rests her head on his shoulder, enjoying the moment of peace and the company. When she wakes in his arms, the pup nestled between them and her in yesterday's clothes she doesn't care, plucking straw from his hair as he asks her to show him how to mix up the herbs she puts in the pup's milk. He learns quickly and soon the pup doesn't need the herbs or the milk, eating everything in sight and not caring if it's edible or not but she still drops in at feeding time as she brings pilfered kitchen apples for her harts.  
  
"You need to name her you know," she tells Blackwall a week later as he sits with the pup on his lap. They've all got names for her: beastie comes from Dorian and Vivienne (they both feed her treats when they think no one is watching), Asha from her and Solas (da'asha really when it's Eimhir talking to her), pup from Varric and Cole, a Qunari term Bull hasn't translated but it sounds very fond so it's either sweet or it's 'One Who Will Devour the World', it's difficult to tell. Sera has taken to calling her piggy on account of her appetite and Cassandra has a surprising variety of names that she gets defensive about. Josie calls her menace even as she cups her cheeks and Cullen just asks if she can help train recruits once she's bigger.  
  
"Difficult to pick a name for a dog, too many terrible choices. She's still just a little thing."  
  
"She'll get bigger though."  
  
"Those paws? She'll be a monster."  
  
"A pretty one though, I've only seen a few dogs with coats like that."  
  
"They breed some for colours like this, I'm surprised you managed to find her in the dark, she must've blended in with the ground."

"She did, I had Solas with me but I had to just pat around and hope it wasn't something that'd eat my fingers."  
  
"You wouldn't do that would you girl?" He scoops the pup up, her stub tail wagging as she barks then licks his nose, Eimhir trying not to laugh at the silly voice he's talking to her in. "Well maybe but no one would tell you off, not you."  
  
"You're such a big sap."  
  
"Again – who tucked a stray pup into her coat and brought her here after she spent over a week sleeping in a stable with one overgrown deer that her other overgrown deer got up the duff."  
  
"If you didn't have that pup in your hands I would end you," she threatens and he pretends she's struck him. She wishes the rest could see him like this more because she knows that to bring it up with Cassandra only ends in frustration, Solas too but she loves him and she's seen the pain he was in, the self-loathing, the desperate desire to be better and to be more but she gets to see the soft side. Moments like this and when he's had such unshakeable faith in her and what she can do when she's felt so frightened and alone, thrust into a role she never asked for.  
  
"What was it you named your fox?" He asks when the pup and fawn are clattering around together as Eimhir checks Roan's hooves and give him the sort of grooming that leaves him gleaming.  
  
"Russet, as you can tell I'm not the most imaginative with names so unless you're set on calling her Brindle or Spindleweed, you might want to look elsewhere for inspiration."  
  
"I shudder to think of what you'd name a child."  
  
Eimhir laughs but even though she's still not sure if she wants children – there have always been other things she'd rather think about if she's honest – she's already picked out the names she likes and she's not about to part with them so easily.  
  
Leliana saves her from having to answer, appearing with an apology as she holds out a letter for Eimhir. "I thought you might be down here and I admit, it's been some time since I've been around a mabari." As ever, she looks younger when she smiles, kneeling down to let the pup sniff at her, prancing around in excitement over a new person.  
  
"Didn't the Hero of Ferelden have one?"  
  
"Damhnait? Oh yes, a great big one that she saved at Ostagar. What a smelly beast."  
  
"Probably the kaddis," Blackwall adds. "I met some Ash Warriors once and it's awful stuff."  
  
"One of our other companions, Wynne, had him and Alistair stay in one part of the camp together, Damhnait told me it was so all the stink would be in one place."  
  
Eimhir laughs so hard she startles Roan who bellows and scares the pup, tripping over her own paws in her haste to dart behind Blackwall and bark at Roan from relative safety. Leliana hands over the papers with another laugh, excusing herself as Blackwall scoops the pup up and Eimhir tells Roan off for being a big bully. The letter can keep, it's some invitation to a party Josephine will want her to attend that she has no interest in so she shoves it in her pocket.  
  
"Scaea," Blackwall murmurs suddenly as Eimhir shuts Roan back in his stall.  
  
"Sorry?"  
  
"Scaea. I heard the stories about Ash Warriors once, about Luthias the Dwarfson and dwarven berserkers. I could tell you the story."  
  
"I'd like that," she agrees and from then on the pup still has her many nicknames but she's officially Scaea and a part of the inquisition.  
  
Scaea likes to sleep in front of fires and Eimhir is utterly charmed in a way she didn't expect to be. There's the fire in Josie's study – yes there have been important documents that have been eaten but she likes the company in the end. The fire by Varric and he says he's starting early this time with the Diamondback because he wants to teach a mabari how to do it without giving away their tells. The fire in the tavern and Sera with her wiggling fingers on Scaea's soft belly, Krem who makes jokes about Tevinter as he scratches her under the chin, Bull who growls and play fights and then nuzzles their noses together. The fire in the barn where she spent so many of her earliest days with Eimhir and Blackwall. The fire in Eimhir's quarters where she rolls around on her back letting out an almighty sneeze right after, some dog thing Eimhir loves but will never understand.  
  
Tonight Scaea sighs and Eimhir looks over to her and then to the window where the sky is dark and has been for days, an endless expanse of grey as rain hammers at the glass, rain that feels like tiny needles of ice. It's the reason she's up here after all, too cold for a pup to be in a barn when she's still little and after how Eimhir found her, she doesn't ever want her to be out like that again and it was Blackwall who suggested she take Scaea and let her stay in her quarters away from the storm.  
  
"Me too, girl, me too," she agrees, patting her thigh and the dog trots over to rest her head on Eimhir's leg, eyes closing when she scratches her behind the ears. "But come on, we should find your dad and bring him in, hmm? Too old to be rattling around in a barn in this weather. I bet you miss him." There's nothing wrong with projecting her own feelings on a dog as she grabs her warmest coat and bundles Scaea up too, shivering as she runs to the barn and clatters in, throwing her hood back as Scaea squirms and makes a desperate bid for freedom at the familiar sights, smells and sounds.  
  
"Something the matter?" Blackwall asks, bending to pet Scaea before he takes Eimhir's hands in his to chafe warmth into them as her teeth chatter.  
  
"Scaea missed you and you're not staying another night in this barn, it was cold enough from my memory and well..."  
  
"I spent a long time-" He begins, the same argument he gave that first time he said he'd rather Scaea stayed indoors when she asked him if he'd like to stay too and this time she takes a breathe and squeezes his hands.  
  
"I'd like it if you stayed," she begins for she pauses then amends the remark. "I _want_ you to stay. I miss you. If you don't want to, if you aren't ready then I understand, but I-"  
  
He kisses her, cupping her face in his cracked and callused hands, hers clutching the front of his coat. "There is nowhere I'd rather be than at your side."  
  
No one says a word as the three of them head into the main hall, after all they saw more when he kissed her as he stood in shackles before her, when they had a discussion that was perhaps better suited to being in private in front of everyone present but none of them – well, a very select few of their closest friends – know that they've been taking it slow since that kiss. That they've been talking. That there have been apologies and long talks and understandings and that even kisses have been rare because she's been waiting even as they come close to the end of things here. She bites her lip when he opens the doors for her and ushers her through because she still gets strangely giddy whenever he calls her my lady and treats her like one; it's not annoying with him the way it is with others, it feels right, or perhaps not right exactly but not so strange. It's probably the smile on his face or how naturally it comes to him. He stokes the fire as soon as they're inside and she locks the door and draws the curtains, muttering when she finds a chewed spot on the bottom of more than one but she can scold Scaea for it another day. She's the one to undress him down to his underwear, grabbing a jar from her dresser to rub into his palms because they're rough and look sore in places, hacks from more than just woodworking along his fingers. He puts up a token protest and she kisses him again. It's still too early to say 'let me take care of you' but he accepts the gesture and once he's under the covers for a while, he lets her shove him over to claim the warm spot he left behind. She settles comfortably against him, Scaea at the foot of the bed where she presses her nose and bats her paws at their toes whenever they move and then she laughs. And laughs. Tries to stop herself and laughs again.  
  
"What?" There's suspicion in his tone and she has to collect herself, wiping her eyes as she tries to speak.  
  
"I think we accidentally became Ferelden. Don't tell Dorian or he'll never speak to either of us again." He laughs and drops a kiss to her forehead, pulling the blankets up and she sighs, stroking the back of his neck and his side as he relaxes, his breathing slowing as Scaea yawns and circles again and again and again before she flops down happily between their feet. Once she's sure he's asleep she prays again that she makes it through what is to come because she wants more of this for as long as she can have it.

**Author's Note:**

> References a fic I've yet to finish but isn't really required reading about Eimhir spending a week in a stable with her pregnant hart after the revelations about Blackwall and them starting over.


End file.
